Motherhood is hard. Laughter is easy.

Hi! I’m Dana. Mother. Author of two books. Teacher. Speaker. Writer. Runner. Loves Jesus. Wretched at Pinterest. Sober. One day at a time.

Author of:

And:

Oh, I have such great intentions…

At five years old: I’m perched at the living room table, the sun streaming in through large windows, clacking away at my old black typewriter. My stack of paper was neatly piled next to my Woodstock, and I was in heaven. I published masterpieces such as:

“Cindy Has a Cough“

and

“The Cat Who Looses a Tooth.”

Yes, I know. I was on fire. I wanted to be a writer.

This old boy has seen better days.

Not much has changed since then.

Welcome toMomsieblog. Here we will grip hands tightly and walk through the days of endless Cheerios on the floor (and, well, everywhere) and other such conundrums of motherhood. I will address such scintillating topics as: “Why must we discuss this while Mommy is on the potty?” and “Really? You announced WHAT * at Sunday School?”

This mothering gig came rather late in life for me; I didn’t have my first wee one (The blond) until I was 38 years old. Ancient. And the second wee one, The redhead, was at, gasp, 40. I know, right? But it has been an amazing journey. And the added bonus: my boys (husband included) supply me with massive loads of material.

Hi Dana! So nice to meet you! I just stumble on your blog from the article at HuffPost. I just had my first few in depth conversation with my almost 11 years old daughter, which stemmed, of course, from that one single question: Why are you going to a meeting again? LOL! I Loved the article and the awesome advice! Thank you! Glad to be here and glad to follow!

Found you thru your post on Momastery. Love your writing style! Your stories remind me of my own kids from years ago. I started my blog for pretty much the same reasons. Congrats on making it a year! I have enjoyed documenting 10 years of craziness and am so thankful that I now have somewhere to ho to retrieve those memories. They fade with time. You think you will never forget all those cute stories or all the cherrios on the floor or have comany with you while using the bathroom…but you do. You (and your kiddos) will laugh so hard when you reread these precious stories in ten years. I so look forward to following your blog.

Thank you so much for your book. I found so many similarities, especially the hiding things behind folded jeans! I have been struggling and your book is so motivating. It is appreciated. I read certain pages when I am feeling weak.

Hi Dana- I just finished your book, Bottled literally 5 minutes ago and LOVED it! I relate to the “old” habits in so many ways. I have 2 young boys and cannot even explain the overwhelming joy of being present daily in their lives. Thank you for sharing your story!

I Just finished Bottled. Usually the summer means a lot of white wine out by the pool while my kids scream at me to, “watch this one, this is a double helicopter splash!” But this summer I am trying to be alcohol free. I’m on day 17 and it feels better now. Those first two weeks I thought about wine a lot. But I’m pretty sure my neighbor saw my entire butt on June 15 when I was bending over to get him a tent from our garage that he was borrowing. I had on no underwear, just a swim cover up. Not being totally sure if my neighbor saw my crotch is a clear signal that I need to change. Please add me to any emails or posts you have in the future. I appreciate your candor.

I just finished reading “Bottled.” Last weekend marked 7 years of sobriety for me. I’ve found myself drawn to other people’s recovery stories of late. The people around me are proud of me, but my days of worrying them are in the past. They don’t realize i still am working on not drinking, at coping with everything differently, at accepting that i cannot just enjoy a drink like others can. I need your stories to remember and celebrate my own. I need to remember how bad things got, how much work i put into getting well, and how grateful I am for the beautiful life i have been given.

“… we had picked up as many pieces of ourselves as we could find to put back together. Marriage means the pieces are not only yours or his. There are also parts that connect the two of you, like puzzles tethered. We were lucky. We found most of those bits, and we carefully set them in place and continued.”